Ursula Sternberg-Hertz
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Ursula Sternberg-Hertz (April 12, 1925-2000) was a German-born Jewish painter and textile artist.[1][2][3] Her family left Germany in 1936, as the Nazis increased persecution of the Jews. She lived in hiding in the Netherlands and Belgium during World War II, and was self-taught as an artist.[4] Following the war, she lived in England, Canada and the United States.[5]
Hertz was born to Walter and Dorothea Hertz in Cologne, Germany on April 12, 1925. The family was Jewish, and fled Germany in 1936 when she was eleven because of increasing persecution of Jews by the Nazis. During World War II she and her family went into partial hiding, first in Aerdenhout, Netherlands, then in Naarden, Netherlands, and finally in Belgium. For some of the time in Belgium she was separated from her family, living in a neighbor's attic because her family feared that she looked too Jewish to be seen safely.[5][6][1][7]
Ursula, who had begun drawing and painting when she was six years, was largely self-taught, and developed her colorful artistic style while she was in hiding, Her father created an interim business, selling hand-painted handkerchiefs for soldiers to send back home, and Ursula designed and painted messages and illustrations for them. Walter Hertz had run a women's clothing business before escaping from Germany. He went on to build a new business, Forma, manufacturing bras and bathing suits. Ursula did commercial illustrations for the business.[2]
England
After World War II Ursula moved to England.[1] In 1950, she won third prize in a competition with the Ascher textile firm of London and Paris, established by Zika Ascher. Ursula took a one-year position as a full-time textile designer in London with the Ascher Studio. Following that year, she continued to work as a freelancer with the Ascher textile firm for several years.[2][8] Other firms she worked for as a commercial artist included Caprice, Franco-Suisse, O.W. Loeb and Peter Pan Foundations.[7][5]